This invention is concerned with liquid hydrocarbon fuel systems and it is particularly, but not necessarily exclusively, concerned with fuel supply systems for internal combustion engines such as diesel engines.
The presence of water in a fuel supply tank has long been recognized as a problem. The water may be inadvertently included in the fuel as the fuel is delivered to the tank or it may be condensed from the air in the tank above the fuel level. Conventionally the conduit leading from the tank to the combustion site, which may be the cylinders of an internal combustion engine, exits the fuel tank slightly above the lowermost region of that tank so that the water which collects at the bottom of the tank is not delivered to the combustion site. However, the accumulation of water may be so great that water does reach the conduit and cause combustion to cease at the combustion site. Additionally, bacteria included in the water tends to multiply, feeding on the fuel, and produce sludge in the tank which may foul the supply system.
The present invention seeks to avoid these problems.